U.S. Men Sweep Spain for Eighth World League Win

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (July 11, 2008) – The U.S. Men’s National Team held off a scrappy team from Spain to win its eighth 2008 FIVB World League pool play match, 25-19, 25-23, 27-25, on Friday before 4,610 fans at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

The victory improves the United States’ World League record to 8-1 and increases its lead in Pool C. Spain falls to 3-6 in third place. The two teams will play again at 7 p.m. on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) of the United States led all scorers with 15 points on 10 kills, three blocks and two aces. Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) added 13 points on nine kills, three blocks and one ace.

Manuel Sevillano led Spain with 13 points on 10 kills, two aces and one block.

The match turned in the second set, when Spain took a 12-6 lead; but the U.S. Men slowly but steadily caught up. The United States finally rallied from a 21-23 deficit to the 25-23 set victory.

“We did not play our best volleyball,” said U.S. Team Captain Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.). “The best thing about this match is we played well when it counted. That's the positive thing we can take away from this.”

Among the other U.S. players, David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) scored nine points on six kills and three blocks; Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) scored five points on two kills, two aces and one block and Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) scored five points on four kills and one ace.

Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) added four points on three kills and one block. Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.), who only played in part of the third set in place of Salmon, scored four points on three kills and one ace. Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.) scored three points in the first set before having to come out of the match due to an injury, which is not thought to be serious. Stanley replaced him at opposite.

Team USA out-blocked Spain 11-6 and converted 56 percent of its hitting attempts into points as opposed to 46 percent for Spain. The U.S. Men also tallied seven aces as opposed to four for Spain.

U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) started Priddy and Salmon at outside hitter, Millar and Lee at middle blocker, Ball at setter, Gardner at opposite and Lambourne at libero.

Stanley replaced Gardner in the first set and started the next two sets. Hoff and Rooney also played as substitutes.

The United States got off to a fast start in the first set, taking a 6-1 lead behind the serving of Millar. Spain scored two points behind the serving of Iban Perez, including an ace, but Team USA took an 8-4 lead into the first technical timeout and extended it to 16-10 at the second. Trailing 10-17, Spain scored four points behind the serving of Guillermo Hernan, including a block and a kill. McCutcheon called a timeout and Stanley ended the rally with a booming kill. Team USA went on to the 25-19 set win. The United States out-blocked Spain 6-2 in the set and out-hit the Spaniards 12-10.

Spain took the lead in the second set as its net play heated up and the U.S. blocking cooled off. With his team trailing 3-7, McCutcheon called a timeout, but Spain responded with a block to reach the technical timeout. Leading 9-6, Spain went on a 3-0 run behind the serving of Hernan to increase the lead to 12-6. The U.S. responded with three points behind Salmon to keep things close. With Spain leading 23-21, a kill by Stanley set off a U.S. comeback run. Ball got the serve and responded with an ace to tie the score at 23-23. A block and then a kill by Lee completed the U.S. rally with a 25-23 victory.

The third set was a battle back and forth. Spain held a slim 8-7 lead at the first technical timeout and Team USA leading 16-15 at the second. Spain held the first match point at 25-24, but a kill from Stanley held it off. Millar’s block gave the U.S. its first match point and a kill by Rooney gave the United States the match victory.

WORLD LEAGUE TICKETS: Tickets for the final FIVB World League match in Bloomington, Ill., (July 12 vs. Spain) are still available. To purchase tickets, go to http://www.uscellularcoliseum.com/.